Tag Info

For the NCAA, it is scored as follows (from page 10 of the 2011 Official Basketball
Statisticians’ Manual):
A.R.15. Adams throws a pass to himself or herself off the backboard, and then shoots and makes the basket. Ruling: Credit Adams with a FGA and FGM, but no assist
or rebound.
For the NBA, according to this Q&A (from 2009) with Bernie Fryer (...

There are a few differences between American Football and other sports that lead to this: particularly, the length of playing careers (shortest by far), and the cost of running a team (largest by far).
NFL teams are very large, with 53 players active of whom 46 play on any given Sunday, and every single one is typically utilized except perhaps a backup QB ...

For more then 40 years Helmet stickers used to signify achievements in college football.
In 1965, Miami University in Ohio became the first school to award
college football helmet stickers.
The idea originated with assistant coach Jim Young.
As a former World War II fighter pilot, Young recalled the practice of putting small
enemy flags on his ...

There is a rule about this. From Wikipedia:
American basketball leagues at all levels traditionally use single and double digits between 0 and 5 (i.e. 0, 00, 1–5, 10–15, 20–25, 30–35, 40–45, and 50–55). The NCAA and most amateur competitions mandate that only these numbers be used. This eases non-verbal communication between referees, who use fingers to ...

1 and 1 means you're going to shoot a free throw and, if you make it, you're going to shoot another free throw.
In terms of being "in 1 and 1" that means that if you get a non shooting foul, instead of the other team just getting the ball, they get to shoot a 1 and 1. If you get enough fouls you move out of 1 and 1 and they just start shooting 2 free throws ...

Baseball
There is a long history of college teams playing against MLB teams in spring exhibition games. This WSJ article has a good description of it:
Such was the unusual spectacle of the Phillies’ 6-2 loss to the University of Tampa, a Division II school. It was a sight only possible in Major League Baseball, the lone major U.S. sport with a long-...

The stated methodology for teams selected to play in the "First Four" is a) the four lowest seeded automatic-bid qualifiers (i.e. the four lowest-rated conference tournament winners), and b) the four lowest seeded at-large bid qualifiers. It is the b) category that gets us "11 vs 11", "12 vs 12", "13 vs 13", etc. games. Where these play-in winners wind up in ...

It is legal to throw the ball off the backboard as a pass to yourself. The only time it is illegal is when attempting a free throw. While attempting a free throw the ball must hit the rim as well.
For reference, see Section III - Dribble of NBA Rule 10.

Notre Dame became Notre Dame because it was one of the best football schools in the early days of college football, when a great coach with a few interesting strategies could make all the difference in the quality of a school's team. They then managed to keep that advantage instead of either disbanding the football team (Thanks for the memories, Amos Alonzo ...

Regarding the NFL and NBA drafts, once a college player declares for the draft, irrespective of whether he gets drafted or not, he cannot play college sports again.
Source: This
The deadline for underclassmen, sophomores and juniors, to declare themselves eligible for the NFL draft is in January. Once a player declares for the draft, they forego their ...

The BCS rankings are determined by averaging together two human polls and six computer rankings starting in the 8th week of the regular season. A team's ranking is determined by the following:
Harris Poll - 1/3 of the ranking is determined by the Harris Poll which is a weekly poll of 115 invited sports media members who rank the top 25 of the 120 teams in ...

Currently, the NCAA limits teams to 85 scholarships. The teams may recruit any number of scholarship quarterbacks. In addition, teams can also invite players to walk-on, so there are likely to be more than 3 quarterbacks on each team's roster. There is a cap of 105 players on a roster for Division 1 FBS teams:
Limit on Number of Participants—Bowl ...

Money.
If the NFL wants a farm system and there is a good chance they will in the future they will end up footing the bill for a lot of the infrastructure/costs.
I have had offers to play in an older version of arena football and that included a per diem and $250 a game. I am not sure most current arena league players get paid more than 20-30K a year if ...

Yes, the final College Football Playoff standings take in account conference championship games.
The College Football Playoff Selection Committee Protocol places an emphasis on conference championships won. A non-champion may be selected in the case that that team is "unequivocally one of the four best teams in the country".
In 2014, in the first year of ...

The rules make a special exception for the case of a kick holder, or else place kicks would be nearly impossible to execute.
In NCAA Rule 4, section 1:
ARTICLE 3. A live ball becomes dead and an official shall sound his whistle
or declare it dead:
[...]
b. When any part of the ball carrier’s body, except his hand or foot, touches the ground or when ...

In the NCAA rules, the only description of the Ineligible Receiver Downfield penalty is below. It can only be called on a forward pass that crosses the line of scrimmage. Since a punt isn't a forward pass, the linemen are able to release as soon as the ball is snapped.
Ineligible Receiver Downfield
ARTICLE 10.
No originally ineligible
...

No player has ever won NCAA basketball championships with multiple teams.
The player who came closest to achieving this is Bob Bender. He was on the undefeated 1976 Indiana team that won the national championship, and he was also on the 1978 Duke team that lost to Kentucky in the title game.
Wikipedia says Bob Bender is the only college basketball player ...

Students are permitted to participate in college athletics at any age as long as they follow the rules.
The most relevant rule for NCAA Division I athletes is the Five-Year Rule:
Title: 12.8.1 - Five-Year Rule.
A student-athlete shall complete his or
her seasons of participation within five calendar years from the
beginning of the semester or ...

I think the same factors are in play for both college and professional leagues. At the end of this article, the writer notes that:
The only time a team is required to grant permission for assistants
who are under contract to interview with other teams is for head
coaching positions. Interviews for other types of positions are at the
discretion of ...

Actually, it appears that college teams can add players mid-season. This exact scenario happened to Washington State University a few years ago: with two QBs injured, the coach asked for students to volunteer to try out for the QB position. I couldn't find how many finally tried out, but one student made the team.
The first article includes a quote from ...

Per NCAA 16.11.1.1 General Rule:
Receipt of a benefit (including otherwise prohibited extra benefits per Bylaw 16.11.2) by
student-athletes, their relatives or friends is not a violation of NCAA rules if it is demonstrated that the same benefit is
generally available to the institution’s students and their relatives or friends. (emphasis added)
...

In hockey, a player's NCAA eligibility is voided the moment they accept compensation a professional team. It does not necessarily have to be contract-related.
Using the NHL as an example, NCAA players are permitted to take part in organizational activities such as an off-season development camp provided the player takes care of all associated costs with ...

Yes, it is possible for a team to end the game with a score of 1 in the NCAA and in the NFL.
This could happen in the exact scenario that you mentioned in your question. On an extra point attempt, Team A (which already has 6 points for a touchdown) fumbles the ball (or has kick blocked). Team B recovers.* Team B has a chance to take the ball to the ...

The first four is an appeasement of major conferences, basically.
A recent SI/Time piece outlines a story from the late 80s. The basic tenant of the story was the major conferences had gotten together and decided that the bottom two conferences would be eliminated outright from the tournament on selection Sunday. Until the Princeton Georgetown game that was ...

At every level of football there are (sportsmanship) forfeit rules in place for teams that try to create an infinite loop of events. Sometimes these things are done with the most malicious expectations. An example is a team is losing, so they have their offensive line jump and hit d-line. Over and over. Even if the defense accepts these penalties a ...

The NFL used to operate its own developmental league in the USA and Europe between 1991 and 2007. It was initially called the World League of American Football with teams in both the USA (including non-NFL cities like Sacramento and San Antonio) and in Europe. After a few years during which the league was on hiatus, it returned in 1995 as an all-Europe ...

The NFL rulebook states in Rule 5, Section 1, Article 2:
All players must wear numerals on their jerseys in accordance with Rule
5, Section 4, Article 3, Item 3. Such numerals must be by playing position
followed by a list of positions and allowed numbers. (Rule 5, Section 4, Article 3, Item 2 specifies the size etc of numbers on jerseys). Therefore ...

According to the NCAA, there are required steps in order to become a college athlete. One of them is registering with the Eligibility Center. In the typical situation, that’s done during grade 10 in high school. The NCAA Eligibility Center is responsible for reviewing the Amateurism requirements you linked in your post. The center uses the information ...